The fossil land mammal record of New Guinea: a review

The extinct giant marsupials of New Guinea could have been derived from as few as three founding groups. The Pleistocene assemblages of large marsupials were limited, and only seven species have been recognised. The depauperate New Guinean Pleistocene large mammal assemblage is probably not an artefact of a poor fossil record. Three medium to small-sized marsupial species became extinct in the Holocene. In all, New Guinea has suffered the least Quaternary extinction (c5%) of the total fauna of any land mass outside Eurasia. Most dated deposits are >40 000 yr old, although cave deposits at Nombe may include remains of animals that died as little as 25000-14 000 yr BP. -from Author